This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net>
[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of thefile for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making anentire meal of them. D.W.]
By Georg Ebers
Barine had been an hour in the palace. The magnificently furnished roomto which she was conducted was directly above the council chamber, andsometimes, in the silence of the night, the voice of the Queen or theloud cheers of men were distinctly heard.
Barine listened without making the slightest effort to catch the meaningof the words which reached her ears. She longed only for something todivert her thoughts from the deep and bitter emotion which filled hersoul. Ay, she was roused to fury, and yet she felt how completely thispassionate resentment contradicted her whole nature.
True, the shameless conduct of Philostratus during their married life hadoften stirred the inmost depths of her placid, kindly spirit, and afterwards his brother Alexas had come to drive her, by his disgracefulproposals, to the verge of despair; rage was added to the passionateagitation of her soul, and for this she had cause to rejoice—but forthis mighty resentment during the time of struggle she might have,perhaps, succumbed from sheer weariness and the yearning desire to rest.
At last, at last, she and her friends, by means of great sacrifices, hadsucceeded in releasing her from these tortures. Philostratus's consentto liberate her was purchased. Alexas's persecution had ceased longbefore; he had first been sent away as envoy by his patron Antony, andafterwards been compelled to accompany him to the war.
How she had enjoyed the peaceful days in her mother's house! How quicklythe bright cheerfulness which she had supposed lost had returned to hersoul!—and to-day Fate had blessed her with the greatest happiness lifehad ever offered. True, she had had only a few brief hours in which toenjoy it, for the attack of the unbridled boys and the wound inflictedupon her lover had cast a heavy shadow on her bliss.
Her mother had again proved to be in the right when she so confidentlypredicted a second misfortune which would follow the first only too soon.
Barine had been torn at midnight from her peaceful home and her woundedlover's bedside. This was done by the Queen's command, and, full ofangry excitement, she said to herself that the men were right who cursedtyranny because it transformed free human beings into characterlesschattels.
There could be nothing good awaiting her; that was proved by themessengers whom Cleopatra had sent to summon her at this unprecedentedhour. They were her worst enemies: Iras, who desired to wed her lover—Dion had told her so after the assault—and Alexas, whose suit she hadrejected in a way which a man never forgives.
She had already learned Iras's feelings. The slender figure with thenarrow head, long, delicate nose, small chin, and pointed fingers, seemedto her like a long, sharp thorn. This strange comparison had entered herhead as Iras stood rigidly erect, reading aloud in a shrill, high voicethe Queen's command. Everything about this hard, cold face appeared assharp as a sting, and ready to destroy her.
Her removal from her mother's house to the royal palace had been swiftand simple.
After the attack—of which she saw little, because, overpowered by fearand horror, she closed her eyes—she had driven